In a viral moment that had conservatives laughing for hours, a video clip from after Joe Biden’s inauguration shows Biden and first lady Jill Biden locked out of the White House with no one to let them inside.
Hours after Joe Biden‘s inauguration, he and his family and friends made their way to their new home, and ran into some trouble.
Video shows Joe and Jill Biden standing outside the door of the White House for a few moments as “Hail to the Chief” was playing. It seems that they were waiting for the door to open for them.
The reason why it didn’t open was pretty simple, though it is concerning that this detail was overlooked: Biden fired the head usher who was in charge of opening the door.
Most onlookers expected a person to be waiting on the other side of the door for a well-choreographed opening, as details like that aren’t usually overlooked.
The door finally did open, but the awkward moment went viral.
Former White House staffers pointed out the problem. “There was a protocol breach when the front doors were not held open for the first family as they arrived at the North Portico,” said Lea Berman, who served as the White House social secretary for former President George W. Bush.
Firing the Chief Usher
The Bidens seemed to expect that a White House support staffer would be there to let them in, perhaps forgetting that they fired White House Chief Usher Timothy Harleth just hours before.
A senior Trump administration official told The Daily Mail “that the firing came at the request of the Bidens.”
“The head usher enjoyed the confidence of the Trump family throughout his tenure. Any suggestion that his resignation was at the direction of anyone other than the Biden team is false,” the official said.
Some left-wing outlets tried to claim that the resignation of Harleth was some sort of final prank from President Trump to Joe Biden, and that the viral moment was a planned act by the former president.
CNN reported that a “Biden White House official confirmed Harleth’s departure, but added, ‘he was let go before the Bidens arrived’ at the White House.”
Harleth had previously been employed as the rooms manager at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., and was hand-picked by First Lady Melania Trump to work at the White House due to his great work ethic.
The Western Journal speculated on the story behind the firing, writing: “Maybe Biden was looking for a fresh staffing start, or perhaps the new president was being petty, but Harleth told The New York Times that he was arranging furniture for the new president and first lady when he was abruptly fired at around 11:30 a.m.”
Harleth’s Response
Harleth didn’t seem to take the change personally, releasing a statement soon after his resignation.
“It has been an honor to serve as chief usher, a position whose loyalty is not to a specific president, but rather to the institution of the presidency. I am proud that I had the opportunity to lead the residence staff to receive the incoming first family with the utmost respect and dignity, not just for this administration, but for the future success of the office of the president,” Harleth said.
